Main Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee
Release Year: 1933
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
Plot
The last--and to some aficionados, the best--of choreographer Busby Berkeley's three Warner Bros. efforts of 1933, Footlight Parade stars James Cagney as a Broadway musical comedy producer. Cagney is unceremoniously put out of business when talking pictures arrive. To keep his head above water, Jimmy hits upon a swell idea: he'll stage musical "prologues" for movie theatres, then ship them out to the various picture palaces in New York. Halfway through the picture, Cagney is obliged to assemble three mammoth prologues and present them back-to-back in three different theatres. There are all sorts of backstage intrigues, not the least of which concerns the predatory hijinks of gold-digger Claire Dodd and the covetous misbehavior of Cagney's ex-wife Renee Whitney. Joan Blondell plays Jimmy's faithful girl-friday, who loves him from afar; Ruby Keeler is the secretary who takes off her glasses and is instantly transformed into a glamorous stage star; Dick Powell is the "protege" of wealthy Ruth Donnelly, who makes good despite this handicap; Frank McHugh is Cagney's assistant, who spends all his time moaning "It'll never work"; and Hugh Herbert is a self-righteous censor, who ends up in a censurable position. The last half-hour of Footlight Parade is a nonstop display of Busby Berkeley at his most spectacular: the three big production numbers, all written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, are "By a Waterfall", "Honeymoon Hotel", and "Shanghai Lil", the latter featuring some delicious pre-code scatology, a tap-dance duet by Cagney and Keeler, and an out-of-left-field climactic salute to FDR and the NRA! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Footlight Parade is a bravura exercise in song and dance, with three spectacular numbers that represent the finest work of choreographer Busby Berkeley. As with many films of this type, the story is incidental, though the non-musical scenes benefit from a fine performance from James Cagney as a Broadway producer displaced by the film industry's transition to sound. In the early sound era, Warner Bros. was second only to MGM in opulent production values, and Footlight Parade outshines most films of its type from that era. Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler are tops among the supporting cast, though there are no weak spots. Director Lloyd Bacon had a reputation for an efficient indifference to stylistic filmmaking. Here he has Berkeley and Cagney to create the style for him. The result is what many critics consider one of the best musicals of the 1930s. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
In 1992, Footlight Parade was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Chester Kent (James Cagney) replaces his failing career as a director of Broadway musicals with a new one as the creator of musical numbers called "prologues," short live stage productions presented in movie theaters before the main feature is shown. He faces pressure from his business partners to constantly create a large number of marketable prologues to service theaters throughout the country, but his job is made harder by a rival who is stealing his ideas, probably with assistance from someone working inside his company. Kent is so overwhemed with work that he doesn't that realize his secretary, Nan (Joan Blondell), has fallen in love with him, and is doing her best to protect him.
Kent's business partners announce that they have a big deal pending with the Apolinaris theater circuit, but getting the contract depends on Kent impressing Mr. Apolinaris with three spectacular prologues, presented on the same night, one after another at three different theatres. Kent then stages "Honeymoon Hotel", "By a Waterfall", featuring the famous 'Human Waterfall', and "Shanghai Lil", featuring Cagney and Ruby Keeler dancing together.
Cast
James Cagney as Chester Kent, creator of musical prologues
Dorothy Lamour and Ann Sothern were among the many chorus girls in the film. It was Lamour's film debut. It is often written that John Garfield made his (uncredited) film debut in this film, but experts were divided if it was actually him in the very quick (5/6ths of a second) shot.[3][4] According to the 2003 Turner Classic Movies documentary The John Garfield Story, it is not Garfield.
Musical numbers
"Honeymoon Hotel" – by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics)
"Shanghai Lil" – by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics)
"By a Waterfall" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)
"My Shadow" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)
"Ah, the Moon Is Here" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)
"Sitting on a Backyard Fence" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)[5]
Production
Early casting had Stanley Smith playing the juvenile lead eventually played by Dick Powell, and Dorothy Tennant playing Mrs. Gould instead of Ruth Donnelly. Other actors considered for various roles included Eugene Pallette, George Dobbs and Patricia Ellis. Remarkably, considering that his musical numbers are the highlight of the film, Busby Berkeley was not the original choice to choreograph - Larry Ceballos was signed to direct the dance numbers, and sued Berkeley and the studio for $100,000 for breach of contract when he was not allowed to do so. (Ceballos also claimed to have created a number later used in the Warner Bros. film Wonder Bar, which was credited to Berkeley.)
Cagney's character, Chester Kent, was modelled after Chester Hale, a well-known impresario at the time, and the offices he worked in were based on the Sunset Boulevard offices of the prologue production company "Fanchon and Marco" in Los Angeles.[3]
Footlight Parade was shot at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, California, and cost an estimated $703,000 to make. It premiered on 30 September 1933, and was released generally on 21 October.[6][7][8]
Pre-code era
The film was made during the Pre-Code era, and its humor is sometimes quite risqué, with multiple references to prostitution and suggestions of profanity largely unseen in studio films until the 1960s, when the Production Code collapsed.
One character in the film, played by actor Hugh Herbert acts as the censor for Kent's productions, constantly telling Kent certain parts of his production numbers have to be changed. His character is portrayed as buffoonish and comical, saying disagreeable lines to Kent such as "You must put brassieres on those dolls..." (referring to actual dolls) "...uh uh, you know Connecticut." This character foreshadows the coming Production Code, which was in full force less than a year later.
Quotes
Chester Kent: "Aw, talking pictures, it's just a fad."
